Deb, I e-mailed you some thoughts about the book...nothing too profound or anything.

Backsent, erika - a nice way to wake up. And I agree with you about police procedurals - although they're probably at the bottom of my mystery reading choice list, since I like the personality and psychological ones that focus on people, not forensics. If they're done right, they're great, but I hate laundry lists.

I just pounded out a rough draft of a submission for my alumni magazine. It's rough and needs a good 600 words cut, and I've posted it friends-locked in my LiveJournal for comment, since I'm still paranoid about posting full drafts of anything in a public forum.

Oy. Writing groups. A few months ago, when I was all morning-sick and not going very often, there was a kerfluffle between two of our members--the details are convoluted enough to be plot points for a bad soap opera, but what ultimately fell out was that neither came anymore, and I think there was even some group discussion, which V was privy to, saying that V wouldn't come back. So we ended up with a cozy, friendly group of five, one that's even become helpful to me once I asked for somewhat stronger critique. It's still not my ideal, and I'd loved to find an all-romance or all-historical fiction of any genre group, with a closer match in writing skills, but it's a pleasant and inspiring way to spend a Monday night.

So tonight, out of the blue, V comes back. And it threw off the chemistry terribly. And I hate to be all in-group and shunny, but I'd really like to stay just the five of us. Because, the thing is, V's stories drive me crazy--they're dark and inevitable, and not in a Shakespearean or Jossian way that sends chills down your spine. No, it's just endless end games of people who've fucked up their lives slowly dying in modern squalor. They're both depressing and boring, and that's a lethal combination.

Anyway, I'm just venting, and wondering if it's terrible to want my writing group to be a bit of an exclusive club.

Susan, I just had to tell a very sweet man without the smallest inkling about how to write a novel that he simply wasn't ready for a writing group. And we are enjoying our chemistry (although we miss our original seventh rather intensely).

Sometimes you just have to say something.

Plei, Bev - insent to you both. There are typos in the last ten pages or so. Sorry about that....

Sometimes you just have to say something.

I probably will. I feel a "how to do this nicely" email to J coming on, since she's turned into the impromptu leader of the group by virtue of being the most naturally outspoken of us all.

Because if I have to read another story about an aging washed-up rock star drinking himself to death and reflecting on how it was all inevitable because of Insert Parental Unit Here, I'm going to scream.

Someone should point out that Richard Burton is dead and Elizabeth Taylor is blonde now and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf" has already been filmed to perfection, thank you very much.

Well, tonight J and I did suggest that it's nice for a story to actually have a plot of some kind, even if it's a character-based or atmospheric piece.

You could always offer the lady a ritalin milkshake.

Or make her watch "Buckaroo Banzai", to see if she has any cracks in the existentialist glooooooom...

BTW, comment left in your lj, about alumni article, and general tone thereof.

I'm a little giddy. I just finished off a major chapter and sent it on and I feel like dancing.

Yo, all my writing peeps!

(Ahem.)

BUST magazine, which I adore beyond all reason, has an article on how to start your own business, including a link to a website called Seattle Writergrrls. I originally was going to post it and flag it to the attention of the Seattle peeps, but in poking around the site (particularly the Resource page), this Web site is EXCELLENT for any writer, not just those is Seattle, and not just grrls.

Check it out, yo. Especially the Resource page.